hide
Free keywords:
-
Abstract:
Even though simulators are often used in flight training, the effects of the different motion components on pilot
performance and control behaviour are still not fully understood. In most hexapod motion base simulators the
translational motion needs to be reduced significantly to fit within the limited motion space, while the rotational
motion might not need attenuation. This paper presents the results of an experiment that investigated the
effects of simulator motion in a roll-lateral helicopter control task for both agile and inert helicopter dynamics.
The experiment was performed in the MPI Motion Simulator, which has the unique ability of presenting the
motion in this task 1-to-1. The results indicate that both roll and lateral motion are important for increasing
performance in reducing the roll error. The lateral motion also significantly reduced the lateral tracking errors.
Pilots increased their control activity, but had a lower performance in reducing the lateral error for the inert
helicopter dynamics. These effects in performance and control activity were caused by a change in the pilots
control strategy as was observed from the multimodal pilot model parameters. The effects on pilot tracking performance
were also apparent from a significant change in the disturbance and target open-loop characteristics.
